Major upswing for production in Canada

Foreign location and production service companies made the largest contribution to the rise, increasing their profits to $86m, which is 4.9% higher than the 2012/13 year. These gains also indicate a bigger shift in film production as a whole, with the sector up by $215m.

The Canadian TV division was the second largest contributor to the industries’ growth with production revenue increasing by 2.7% which equated to a total of $60m. However, the number of TV projects dropped by 7.7% because of the decrease in pilots and miniseries.

Canadian theatrical feature film production was also up in 2013/14 by $15.1m, marking a 4.1% rise on 2012/13. This increase is reportedly because of the significant strides high-budget productions have made in the English-language market. The average budget for features experienced a surge of $2.8m, as the median grew from $4.2m to $7m in 2013/14.

In December we reported that Canada’s feature film upswing is set to continue with Spielberg gearing up to film the BFG in Vancouver, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim 2 rumoured to be filming in Pinewood Toronto and the Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie-starring Suicide Squad confirmed to be embracing the land of the Maple Leaf for shooting.

Things seem to be looking up for the great white north.